What’s a Dependent Clause?

Is this a sentence? No, it isn’t. It is a sentence fragment. A fragment is a piece of a sentence but not a whole sentence. Sentence fragments are common writing mistakes.

Fragments are sometimes made by ESL students who don’t know about dependent clauses. A dependent clause is a group of words that pretends to be a proper sentence.

What does ‘dependent’ mean? It means you need another thing to work properly. You can’t stand by yourself. You need help. For example, a five year old child depends on his/her mother and father for food and support.

Dependent clauses are the same thing. They need to be with an independent clause to work properly. Dependent clauses help a sentence but they can’t be alone.

Would you leave a five year old child alone in the house? No, you wouldn’t. Would you leave a dependent clause alone in a paragraph? No, you shouldn’t.

An independent clause is different. It is a group of words which make a proper sentence. An independent clause is like a teenager. It can stand by itself and it doesn’t need any help.

Write This, Not That

Write this: Although Alice studied for many hours, she failed to pass the test.

Not that: Although Alice studied for many hours.

Write this: I like Korean food because it tastes spicy.

Not that: Because it tastes spicy.

Write this: Since I have no money, I can’t go to the concert.

Not that: Since I have no money.

Fix the Writing Mistake

You can find a dependent clause by looking for helper words. These words give you a clue about where a dependent clauses starts.

First, a dependent clause often begins with a word called a ‘subordinating conjunction.’ Here are some examples (look for a longer list of subordinating conjunctions at the bottom of this page):

although because since

Second, a dependent clause can begin with a special word called a relative pronoun. These are relative pronouns:

that who whom whose which

Download Writing Worksheets

If you want to practice writing sentences with dependent clauses, read another lesson I prepared. This lesson teaches paraphrase writing by using subordinate conjunctions.